Legal Question in Intellectual Property in Virginia

Reference to the discoveries or theories of others in a work of fiction

If fictional scholars were to converse about a known discovery, theory, or ongoing

experimentation without naming the real-life scholars involved, would this be

infringement?

Example:

Scholar 1: ''Radiography showed the morphology of Akhenaten's skull matches

no one the 18th Dynasty. No way he's Tut's old man.''

Scholar 2: ''Brush up on your mitochondrial DNA, Harry. They just proved it.''

Would naming actual names, eg., ''Dr. Harris proved that Ramses was not...'', ''The

Oriental Institute discovered that...,'' be any different?

Many thanks.


Asked on 9/25/02, 3:30 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Patrick Tracy Patrick J. Tracy, Esq, P.E.,

Re: Reference to the discoveries or theories of others in a work of fiction

If you are referrring to a particular section of text in a book you must reference it in your work if it is a written work. If you are to publish your work you must obtain permission from the holder on the copyright of the book. In some cases under the doctrine of "fair use " you may be able to quote a certain amount of the text. Since your question did not give many more particulars, I cannot be more definitive. In most cases where the quoted portion is going to be published in a commercial document "fair use" is of limited value.

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Answered on 9/25/02, 4:46 pm


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